UK cities may need to adopt digital graveyards as burial spaces dwindle

Experts warn that cemeteries may be pushed into the digital age as metropolitan areas are on the brink of maxing out burial spaces for the deceased.

With the forecasting a surge in global deaths to nearly 90 million by 2048, pioneering methods for interring the dead seem imminent, particularly in populous city zones.

The Law Commission raised the alarm last year, highlighting that England and Wales' urban regions are swiftly depleting their burial grounds.

In 2024 alone, there were 568,613 recorded deaths in and They posited reusing old graves and reopening long-since "full" Victorian-era closed burial grounds to address the squeeze on sepulchre acreage.

Furthermore, they assured that protections would be established for each resting place, such that a plot could only be reassigned for new use after at least 75 years since its last internment.

And now, a study by Dr Farzan Baradaran Rahimi, assistant professor of design and immersive learning at s MacEwan University, suggests our future entails existing eternally as saplings, eco-friendly power, or even interactive holograms that converse with kin.

The Necropolis 4.0 report highlights that population growth, climate change, land shortage, resource constraints, and social inequalities are all contributing to the dwindling availability of burial space.

The report suggests "there is still an increasing need to find new ways to design for death as a social space in the urban future to make it less resource-demanding and isolated, but more nature-friendly and social leveraging emerging technologies and techniques", reports

In place of traditional rows of headstones, future graveyards will offer an interactive experience with our forebears. The report forecasts that during their lifetimes, individuals will have the ability to upload memories into extensive databases.

Artificial intelligence will generate holograms, enabling future generations to engage with virtual versions of ourselves. Concurrently, our bodies would be buried with seeds in biodegradable pods which will aid the growth of shrubs and trees.

The heat emitted will be collected in thermal towers to power electricity turbines. Dr Rahimi is confident his concepts would alter conventional perspectives on death - and he's certain younger generations will understand.

He said: "While some will embrace the idea of 'digital immortality', others may resist it, particularly due to cultural or spiritual understandings of death, the afterlife, and the nature of existence. But younger generations - and those that follow - may be more receptive to these ideas.

"They might see such concepts as a natural evolution of the world they inhabit, where identity and presence can extend beyond the physical realm."

Dr Rahimi assembled a team of experts to contemplate the unthinkable about death. His report, published in the journal Cities, states: "A nature-human-machine relationship... paves the way for... a novel, green, and sustainable design for death in the urban future. Necropolis 4.0 eliminates the need for physical burial spaces, significantly reducing the environmental footprint."

Necropolis 4.0 would involve a network of underground hubs where the living could drop in and upload their memories. These hubs would also serve as places where loved ones could visit holograms that mimic our voice and facial expressions.

Bodies would be interred with seeds in biodegradable pods to grow plants. The report adds: "This paves the way for the spread of greenery, extending even to the rooftop gardens of skyscrapers.

"As the plants flourish, they contribute to the natural beauty of the surroundings while also purifying the air. Thermal energy created in the rapid composition process will serve the power grid across the city."